Egosoft Comes Under Fire for Troubled X Rebirth Release

X Rebirth is fast becoming yet another cautionary tale against the dangers of pre-ordering, as the hordes of loyal fans of the Xfranchise who took advantage of the pre-order options complain that they have been sold a product variously described as "in a pre-alpha state", "unfinished and buggy" and "outright fraud".

However, there are others who remain staunchly in Egosoft's corner, pointing out that previous X games have been released in a similar, unpolished state only to be subsequently fixed by both the original development team and the modding community.

The decision to release a premium-priced game with a claimed lack of transparency (misleading trailers and expectation management) and some questionable design decisions (broken features, a laborious walking-in-stations trading mechanic and a general lack of in-game information) seem to be the larger concern though and something harder to address in a few quick patches.

Strong Views

"We don't want these copy-and-paste stations with freaky NPCs, it's bullshit! Absolute bullshit! Trading is like pulling teeth... the combat's horrible and repetitive--I don't know what my lasers are doing or which one is the best--and the worst of the worst is how you travel around in this matchbox universe, you use highways and superhighways. In a space game."

"A mess. This is no surprise given Egosoft’s penchant for releasing messes and then tidying them up after the fact. But the problem with X Rebirth is that it’s a different kind of mess than the previous games, in new and terribly wrong ways that are beyond tidying up."

Rapid Resolution?

"First, I would like to apologise to those of you who have had technical problems. I have started a thread in the Steam forums where I have listed the most common errors and have now collected a lot of information about this."

He goes on to talk about the success of X Rebirth's Steam launch then lists the priority issues and performance improvements which are first on Egosoft's to-do list, before signing off with:

"For those of you able to play without problems, I wish you continued fun. For those who have technical problems, and as can of course be seen on here on the forum there are many of you, I want to apologise again and ask for your patience.

Thank you all for the huge success!"

Final Thoughts

It is a shame that a game with such promise and a loyal fanbase has hit the iceberg of a tragic release state. As a fan of the original, I was watching X Rebirth with interest, but I make a policy of avoiding pre-orders however tempting they may be.

In this case, I feel vindicated and will certainly continue to be wary of parting with cash for an untested product, although I do feel for developers who are forced to resort to questionable tactics to find the funding to finish their game.

I wonder whether Egosoft's funds just ran out? But if so, there are other, less duplicitous mechanisms for fundraising; Steam's Early Access programme and Kickstarter crowd-funding. With the widespread issues reported, surely they could not have been unaware of the likely response if released commercially.

Have you played X Rebirth? Did you pre-order it? Can it recover? We would very much like to hear of your experiences as the product continues to be developed.

X-Rebirth or stillbirth as it's being called now is to sum it up in one word....Dire.

It fails on so many levels from game play, to voice overs (bored read from a sheet with no inflection at all), graphical errors and broken game mechanics.
Bugs that stop game play, bugs that stop GPU's from being used properly, lack of top end machine optimisation, Really crap station design (internal cut and paste identikits).

Steam refusing to give refunds (if you get robbie as a tech op then forget even putting your legal point of view across) and still promoting the game as a latest brilliant release.(technically fraud as the game really isn't finished in any way).

As a long term X fan this game has broken the fanbase big time, obviously the fanboys will say differently but for me, someone that preordered and paid cash up front for this piece of rubbish I am bitterly dissapointed and will in future never preorder again.

With regards steam refunds I may even close my account there too...........

The game is pure THEFT. FRAUD. STEAL.
I can use many words.
Add to that the unbelievable bad (and inconcistent) Steam policy against refunds.
It is one of the times that courts around the world should get involved.

I was very much looking forward to this game and pre ordered. Worst mistake I have made with regard to purchasing a game.

The bugs are not the issue. Bugs can be fixed. Core mechanics cannot...
It is clearly a game designed for a console then ported to PC. It has no joystick options
no keybinding options. No 3rd person. The only main command you can give to a ship is join my squad and he will follow you.

There are about 8-10 ships total. I think another 8 weapons.

no radar
no rotational view
no complex gaming in this at all. It is a arcade space shooter.
Egosoft stooped to the "free money in Sh*ty console games" band wagon...

The company knew that had a melon and so chose not to release any information on it.
the black lash is completely warranted and I personally am expecting an apology and omission of guilt for this freak of nature
just disgusted aye.

This is part of the reason I tend to agree with your policy of avoiding pre-orders. Too many cases where excellent potential just is not realized. Hopefully this game will get cleaned up quickly enough into the kind of experience it should be.

It is a shame, I suspect that it was hurried out of the door due to the need for additional funding. But even then, I cannot fathom why they'd commit development seppuku by trying to pass it off as a finished product.

The problem is, consumer willingness to throw away their money time and again because of brand loyalty or impressive marketing means that this will continue to happen.